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There’s an awful lot of wotsit in Brazil

Everyone else has these hit ‘n’ run links, so why shouldn’t I? John Williamson sets it out like a good ‘un; this paper saves me from having to say anything I was otherwise going to. Walter Bagehot, the Grand Old Man of liquidity crises, pointed out that the only way to restore confidence is to lend freely and without restriction (against good credit), at penal rates. At the moment, the support package for Brazil is scheduled to be disbursed over 18 months, on the basis of unknown but stringent policy targets, with all but the first six billions coming next year. If the IMF is so utterly unwilling to step up to the plate in Brazil, why the heck do they think anyone’s going to believe their pious assertions that “the fundamentals are sound”???